


Think Outside the Box

by TheAsexualofSpades



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 03:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11728677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualofSpades/pseuds/TheAsexualofSpades
Summary: The Doctor and Reader have just escaped a telepathic pathogen set by the Daleks, of course. But the Reader isn't exactly unscathed.This is purely a fluff piece I wrote for a friend. Enjoy!





	Think Outside the Box

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to see how the Tenth Doctor would interact with a kid or a younger person as his companion. Not beta-read. If there are any mistakes, please let me know.

“That was brilliant!” The Doctor stumbled around the console, flipping switches, twisting dials, and the TARDIS took off. “Oh, I tell you, I never thought I’d see the day the Daleks looked scared of a human. Especially after they released that Pendergrass pollen. Incredible stuff, that. Makes any living thing it comes into contact with telepathic! Brilliant! Well, I mean not for me, too many signals to keep track of, and - hey, are you alright?”

 

The girl who pushed the doors shut was still leaning against them. Noticing a break in the Doctor’s speech, she looked up, nodded, and pushed herself away from the door. She made her way over to the console, stumbling slightly. As she approached, the Doctor felt a wave of jumbled words and emotions. She leaned heavily against the console. He came around, looking worried. “What’s wrong?”

 

“I’m fine.” She mumbled. The Doctor frowned. 

 

“There’s no use lying to me, the Pendergrass is still in your system.” She glanced up at him. “I can still feel everything you’re feeling.” She looked away. “Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”

 

She didn’t turn her head. The Doctor waited a few seconds before flipping a lever. The TARDIS shuddered, then stopped. “The Rudenmaat Galaxy, year 12 billion. Farthest galaxy from the expanse of the Great Human Empire. No one else out here.” He walked around the console, hands in his pockets.

 

The girl looked up at him. “Why did you stop here?”

 

The Doctor regarded her sternly. “Because I’m about to do something you don’t like.”

 

He began walking towards her, looking her up and down. “Human, female, young, adolescent,” as he walked her eyes widened and her arm curled itself around her waist, “small, average build, and nervous.”

 

The girl flinched and stepped back. The Doctor quirked an eyebrow. “Definitely nervous. Arm covering stomach, quite a sensitive area, so protective.” He followed her around the console, beginning to circle her. 

 

“Tense shoulders, so very anxious.” She winced again, stepping away. 

 

“Still backing away from me, so definitely scared.” She forced herself to stop. 

 

“Still won’t look at me, hmm,” The Doctor stopped about an arm’s length away. “Definitely scared of what?”

 

He looked at her face, peering at her through her hair. “Death, no. Far too obvious. Injury? No, no, too many scars.” He tried to ignore how she flinched again. “Scared of me?”

 

A wave of defiance and anger hit him, forcing him to step back. “Ooh, okay, so not me. Quite adamant about that aren’t you?”

 

She looked at him, anger shining from her eyes, nodding fiercely. The Doctor smiled. “Alright then, but it is something to do with me.” 

 

He came closer, bending down slightly so his face was level with hers. “Hmm…what are you so scared of? Not me, not dying, not getting hurt, so what…oh.” His brow furrowed. “Oh, what was that? Oh…oh!”

 

Another wave of fear slowly emanated from the girl. “That’s what it is. You’re not scared of me, well, not directly, you’re scared of me leaving you. And that I won’t care about you anymore.” 

 

He straightened. “That’s what it is. Poor little human, scared of being lonely.” He brushed her hair away from her face. “Aww, look at that face. So scared. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were afraid of being left behind.” She closed her eyes. “Am I making it worse?”

 

She shook her head, but a small wave of fear seeped from her. The Doctor shook his head. “I thought I told you not to lie, I can still feel what you’re feeling. And I can tell how scared you are.” She shrunk in front of him, jerking her head away from his hand. “You don’t like being scared, do you?” She shook her head.

 

“Let’s do something about that.”

 

Without giving her time to consider what he’d just said, he reached out to carefully take her face in his hands, stepping closer. “If there’s anything you don’t want me to see, picture a door and close it, I won’t look. Promise.” His brow furrowed as he looked at her. 

 

“Ooh, that’s interesting.” He turned her face gently from side to side. “Walls, walls everywhere. And you’re not consciously putting them up, are you? No, not at all. So many walls. Not letting me in. You’re very scared, aren’t you?”

 

She blinked, mouth dropping open slightly as she tried to pull away. He stopped her, one hand taking her pulse as he watched her chest heave. “Heart rate increasing, breathing accelerating, I’ve just made it worse, haven’t I?” Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, he cocked his head to one side. “Don’t want you getting too scared, do we?”

 

His hands slid down from her face, over her shoulders, down her arms, to take hold of her hands. Using his thumbs to turn her palms towards him, he brought her hands up to rest firmly on either side of his chest. Her eyes widened as she felt the steady pulses of two hearts beating inside.

 

“Can you feel that?” The Doctor asked softly, watching her face as she nodded. “Good. Focus on that. That’s here. That’s now. And that’s what matters.” Once he was sure she wouldn’t move her hands away, he let go of her hands and cupped her face again. 

 

“Let’s see if we can convince these walls to drop.”

 

His thumbs began stroking her cheeks as he moved closer, tilting her face up slightly so he could keep looking at her. She followed his gaze upwards as he stared at her carefully. Her lip wobbled, and the Doctor caught it.

 

“Ooh, there goes a bit.” He frowned as he caught her frustration as she blinked furiously. “What’s wrong? Do you not want to cry? Don’t you worry about that.” He ran his fingers over the back of her neck. “It’s okay to cry, you know.”

 

She didn’t seem to hear him, annoyance still seeping through. She was focused on a spot over his shoulder, hands slowly tightening their grip on his suit. “Hey.” He shook her face slightly to get her attention, waiting for her eyes to flick back to his. “People who have been strong forever deserve to let their guard down for a few seconds,” he said gently, “and you’ve had to be strong for a while, haven’t you? My strong girl.” 

 

Her eyes began to water. The Doctor could feel her resolve was about to break. He pressed on. “Why do you think I don’t care about you? Because you’re not pretty? Because you’re so young? Because you’re not smart? Because you’re so emotional?”

 

The frustration grew to rolling anger. The Doctor smiled. “No, it’s none of that, you don’t know. You don’t have a reason why, do you? You just think I resent you. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

 

She shook her head, breathing becoming more and more ragged. “Is it because of me? Or what I said about my other companions? How I lost Rose?” There was suddenly a lump in the Doctor’s throat. “Or how I made Martha leave? How I abandoned Jack? How Donna got hurt because of me?” He stopped, swallowing. It was becoming harder and harder to keep talking, like a giant hand had settled on his windpipe. Wait. No. Another hand was prying the fingers away. How…? 

 

The Doctor looked down at the girl, her eyes staring up at him as the waves of encouragement began to seep in shyly. He smirked. 

 

“Here you are, after I've forced you to roll over and show your belly with my teeth at your throat, and your first instinct when you see me vulnerable is to comfort me?” Her cheeks reddened and a meek apology drifted to the Doctor. His smile turned sympathetic. “Oh, don’t apologize. That’s good. That’s human. That’s _you._ You’re allowed to be you here.”

 

She sniffled. The Doctor’s smile faded. “You’re still afraid to cry, aren’t you? You’re afraid of me seeing you when you’re weak.” He studied her a bit more. “Someone hurt you when you cried, didn’t they? Someone told you not to, that it was bad. Oh, you poor thing.” He cradled her face closer. “Don’t you worry. I’m not going to hurt you. And there’s no one else here except the TARDIS. And she’s definitely not going to hurt you.”

 

A reassuring hum sounded from the console. The Doctor smiled as a few lights flickered on and off. His attention was drawn back to the girl when another wave of frustration hit. The smile faltered. “You can’t control it, can you?” She shook her head. “Do want me to help?” The Doctor smiled as she made a small noise of exasperation. “Okay then. Let’s get rid of these walls.”

 

The Doctor stepped closer, raising the girl’s face. Holding her firmly, he pressed his mouth to her forehead, feeling her hands tremble against his chest. He drew back, looking at her face again. Her eyes welled up and she sniffled again. The Doctor rubbed her cheek. “There’s a bit.”

 

He bent down again, this time carefully kissing the bridge of her nose. Her lip wobbled and her breathing hitched. He didn’t move as far away this time, his face hovering a few inches above hers. His voice was softer. “Almost there.”

 

Tilting her face to the side, he brought her close and tenderly kissed her cheek. As he did so, he caressed her face with his hands and ran his fingers through her hair. His mouth was warm against her skin, and he felt her shudder as he moved away. When he kissed her the second time, he could feel her heart rate accelerate and her hands clutch his suit. “There goes the wall.”

 

Her face crumpled, tears creating wet droplets all over the grating beneath them. The Doctor wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, holding her close. A small damp patch began to grow on his chest as soft sobbing sounds began to fill the room. He ran a hand over the back of her head, before muttering softly. 

 

“You know what else is great about humans? You’re so _soft_. Best species to hold, all that squishy human-ness. Perfect for cuddling, absolutely perfect. Squishy, emotional little humans. Brilliant, the lot of you.” 

 

He could feel her chest heaving as she tried desperately to breathe. The Doctor began to panic slightly. He was never any good at all this…domestic stuff. Emotions and humans were so messy. He cuddled her closer and then - 

 

Oh. Oh. That was…powerful. Tidal waves of emotion took his breath away and he gasped, unconsciously clutching her to him. The waves were overwhelming, flooding every compartment of his brain and going straight to his hearts. And for a split second, he could see himself through her eyes. 

 

He saw himself dashing away from some unnamed monster, an elated grin splitting his face in half. He saw the millions of faces of people who were alive because he had convinced the aliens not to attack. He saw the embracing figures of a family reunited next to the TARDIS. He saw the thousands of stars and galaxies twinkling in the night sky that were still alive because the Doctor and his TARDIS had come to call, and everybody lived. And he felt the gratitude of the countless who were still alive because of him. 

 

The protective love pouring through the girl made his hearts stutter and ache pleasantly in his chest. His voice cracked when he spoke. 

 

“Oh, my little human. My little girl. Look what you’ve done to me…” He trailed off and buried his face in her shoulder, letting himself feel as she cried. And just for a second, he wasn’t the Oncoming Storm, last of the Time Lords. He was just an old man, letting himself remember all that he’d seen. 

 

He felt her grow still, resting her weight on his shoulder. Squeezing her shoulders one last time, he pulled her back and rested his hands on either side of her neck. “Come on, now. Can you give me a smile?” He grinned widely, knowing his smile was overly goofy and ridiculous. It seemed to do the trick; the corners of the girl’s mouth crinkled up into a little grin. “There it is. That’s much better.”

 

The TARDIS thrummed contentedly. The girl giggled and the Doctor laughed as they looked at the console, flickering back and forth excitedly. A creak signaled the opening of the doors. The Doctor looked over the girl’s shoulder. 

 

“Oh, that is brilliant!”

 

The sky was painted in swirls of pink, magenta, and indigo. One of the stars had exploded, and the remains of the supernova were just coming into view. The Doctor let her go as she hurried over to the doors to look outside. She plopped down on the edge, legs hanging into the large vacuum of space, and rested her chin on her hands, just looking. The Doctor patted the console before going over to stand behind her, leaning on the doors. He smiled down at her little face, enjoying the enthusiasm he shared. The TARDIS purred, echoing his happiness as he crouched down beside her. 

 

“Beautiful, isn’t it? The cycle of life. Everything has its time, and everything has its beauty. It just needs the right person to appreciate it.”

 

“And you can appreciate all of it.” The girl looked up at him, smiling. The Doctor glanced over at her and held out his arm. She ducked under it, leaning against him. 

 

They looked out at the supernova, taking in the colors that split the black sky. The Doctor looked down at the girl nestled against him. “My little girl.”

 

“My little human.”

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly, I don't own Doctor Who. My only character is the reader.


End file.
